Brazil win in straight sets as Greece
claim win No 3
 June
11, 2005 – Defending champions Brazil
restored some sense of normality to Pool A,
following last week's unexpected defeat to
Portugal, by beating Japan 3-0 (26-24,
25-20, 25-21) in their opening match of
round three in Gifu on Saturday while Greece had
five players reach double figures in their 3-1
(25-21, 25-19, 19-25, 25-14) win over Argentina
in their Pool C match in front of 11,000 fans in
Buenos Aires.
Pic: Ilias Lappas, scorer of 12 points for
Greece, is in full flight against Argentina
World number one Brazil overcame their
disappointing defeat last week in Portugal to
complete a one-sided win over Japan. The
four-time World League champions didn't enjoy
the best of starts in the first set due to
numerous serving errors and opened the door for
Japan to be a threat through the spiking of
veteran captain Masaji Ogino and Marcos Sugiyama.
But Brazil showed their class at the crucial
time to claim the set by two points.
From then on it was all Brazil, despite the fact
that Japan tried their utmost to upset the
rhythm of the Olympic and world champions by
using their second string setter, Taiji
Yamamoto.
Brazil moved to the top of Pool A with four
victories but have played one extra match than
Portugal, who could draw level again following
their first game against Venezuela on Saturday,
while Japan is still struggling to find their
first win this year.
Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, Nikolaos Roumeliotis,
Antonios Tsakiropoulos, Ilias Lappas,
Chrysanthos Kyriazis and Sotirios Pantaleon each
reached double figures for Greece as the
visitors claimed their third win in five
matches.
The victory consolidates Greece's position in
second place in Pool C behind unbeaten Poland
while Argentina remain bottom of the group with
one solitary win.
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Competition Formula